Fable 2 DLC announced

Microsoft and Lionhead have announced the first downloadable content pack for Fable 2, with the name Knothole Island. It's to be released in the middle of December, with a nice winter theme in the DLC. Price is 800p, and first images can be found inside.

The epic journey begun in Fable II, the fastest selling RPG on Xbox 360, is not over. Starting mid-December 2008, fans will be summoned back into Albion's service with the release of the Knothole Island downloadable content pack. The remote island of Knothole is dying: its golden sands and lush vegetation are covered with snow, its people freezing, its treasures buried. Only a hero can face the trials of the three shrines to bring back the sunshine.

Following its release on Xbox 360 on Oct. 21, more than 1.5 million units of Fable II flew off store shelves worldwide in the first two weeks, making it the most popular game, across all platforms, in the U.S. in October. With the release of the first Fable II downloadable content, available exclusively on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points, gamers will be invited to set sail for Knothole Island, where new quests, wondrous items and bizarre characters await.

Also in mid-December, fans everywhere will be able to enhance their Fable II experience with the release of a free Fable II downloadable pack exclusively on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. To engage in co-op gameplay with a player who has already downloaded the Knothole Island content, gamers will need to download the free pack. Both co-op players must download the Knothole Island (Premium) pack in order to play new quests and enjoy the complete Knothole Island co-op experience.

Free and premium downloaders will receive a show of gifts, including Knight's Boots, Assassins Gloves, a special Weight Loss Potion, collectible silver book and more. Players will also be able to check their standing in over 50 new Leaderboards on Lionhead.com.

As an additional treat for Fable II fans, Lionhead Studios and Microsoft Game Studios have created an all-new Albion dashboard theme in celebration of the launch of the New Xbox Experience. Fans who want to show off their Fable II pride can head over to Xbox LIVE Marketplace to download the Albion theme, available now for 250 Microsoft points.

Knothole Island DLC images

All comments

i'm furious. this should be free. usually i wouldnt complain about paying for download content but the game will only have only been out about 2 months by the time this is released!! it should have been included in the extremley short story in the first place. especially since they announced fable 2 was 'finished' 2 months before it was available to buy. i'm actually gutted.

its bad enough under the circumstances ive just explained, but to me it also signifies how video games are going to become more and more about downloadable content, and if its on top of a long and complete game then fine, but in the corrupt world we live in i can imagine them holding things back form the retail game on perpose so they can release it 2 months later at 800 points a pop. and theres no way we can tell wether they have held stuff back in order to release it later as downloadable. although as a company it would save money doing it that way round. and we would still buy the game in the first place. we would be getting ripped off without even knowing.

i think guidlines need to be placed regarding downloadable content for actual gameplay. we dont want to pay extra for something that should have been in the game to begin with afterall. and fable 2 was short. really short. pay for themes - fine, because they are extra anyway, you dont usually get them with a retail game. but new quests released 2 months after a very short game... something is going on here. i just dont want this to happen with every game form now on.

Yeah, don't support it. I have a slight suspition the Devs nowadays hold off content to save it for future downloads (I had it 2 years ago, tbh), thus making games more expensive on the long run, in this case it's so obvious it's not even funny.

Usually when a game is released the company waits untill it knows how the game was received and then decides on new conten, it was like that in Halo 2. I have no problem at all when a company sees their fanbase growing and in order to keep the game fresh and interesting - well and alive - they release content from time to time. But today we're far off that kind of treatment. DLCs aren't community service, it's just a way to suck out the last penny gamers are willing to pay for a game.

I really hope that this doesn't pay off. Not every game has such a huge fanbase like Halo or Fable. If they keep holding off content it may cause a loss on the DLC, in some rare cases. Gaming mags should start tagging the devs who do hold off content, but seeing them being deep into the pokets of the big publishers... it's unlikely to happen. So it's up to us...

He already bought the game............... Which was short, uninteresting and nowhere near the hype. Like all Molyneux games.

"Think about it, there is no dog button... You can NOT control the dog.. Think about that!"
Yeah, its a 3d arrow pointing at every treasure in the gameworld, nothing else. How revolutionary..

"With this new emotion system, we want to give the player the sensation of slowly getting someone to fall in love with them, yaddayddayddaydad"
Yeah okay, clicking an icon that says "Flex" 20 times is really like love.

I agree with you all. I'm a gamer. True gamer. Born gamer. I buy my games, for the cause of it. I like to own my games, and I also like to support the developers.

When I buy games, I also want the complete experience. And the thing is that this really pisses me off when we have to rebuy a game several times before it's complete... Hell, to get the complete Rock Band experience I don't know how many 1000 bucks you'll have to pay... I bought Dead Space, because I honestly like the game, thinks it a very well made game etc. I love horror games...

How fun is it to see that they released some crap DLC for around, I don't know, 20 bucks extra? At least.

This should've been in the F***ING GAME in the first place! Just some skins of the suit you're wearing and some new skins for the guns.

Hell the worst example of DLC you can find in the JRPG's on the 360. In one game, don't know exactly witch, you could even BUY EXPERIENCE POINS for real money through DLC!!! I mean.. common, WTF!
The size of the download? Well... you guessed it; 8kb.

And they fucking charge money for this shit?! Wtf developers. It would be one thing if the games were cheep to begin with... But hell no, they're costing a fixet price of 70€ each! I mean wtf... and the PC-counterpart just cost the half of that price... SAME game. SAME content.

They try to sneak theese microtransactions everywhere. It's a ripoff.

And the latest thing now; pre-order bonuses... you pre-order the game; you get an in game bonus... In the worst case an extra weapon or something that totally ruins the balance of the games online-mode (since players don't play at equal conditions).

You buy the collectors edition? Well.. in game "bonus" (...for the extra money you put in). Same thing here, it can destroy the balance of the game... and also players getting different experiences with the game.... Battlefield Bad Company is a perfect example of this disgusting behaviour.

How about Soul Calibur 4? Well... buy the 360-version (at full overpriced charge), and get Yoda. Buy the PS3-version, you get Darth Vader...
WTF!?! Did something get wrong here? Do I have to buy BOTH games (and consoles) to get the complete experience? And you cannot even play 360 vs PS3 online, so even that would SUCK ASS....

Well, imagine the poor bastard (yeah, REAL poor after he bought the game twice) that bought theese two consoles, and two games, to get the full experience (yeah he LOVES Soul Calibur, AND Star Wars)... then Namco release DLC as crazy... Custom soundtracks (should have been in the game), custom characters (should have been in the game), more soundtracks (should have been in the game), extra clothes (should have been in the game), extra clother AGAIN (should have been in the game)... and even more extra clothes...

The game is now up in more than 200€ (70 + 70 + lots of DLC).

Then you get the REAL sucker-punch; Darth Vader is FINALLY released for the Xbox 360..... (at additional charge)

Should have been in the fucking game in the first place!!! DAMN the friggin' character was already developed when the game first was released. NO EXTRA WORK for the dev.

Cheap ass bastards. And I honestly think peolpe buy more games than ever now a days, at least for myself. (so I couldn't blame piracy for high priced games).

ANY DEVELOPER LISTENING TO THIS? Common, we LOVE games, give us the full package in the first release. If you want to charge extra, don't! We have already paid for the game; full price.

Posted by Baleur"With this new emotion system, we want to give the player the sensation of slowly getting someone to fall in love with them, yaddayddayddaydad"
Yeah okay, clicking an icon that says "Flex" 20 times is really like love.

lmao!!!!!!

my girl had a thing for dancing. whenever i murdered someone i would just dance for her a few times and she would love me again. just like real life!!! :/ ahem

(clearly the citizens of albion they claimed each had 'unique personalities' were just a random combination of likes/dislikes and favoroite places to visit)

also yeah. the dog was useless.
i did enjoy having a companion, but it was overhyped. the gold trail did the dogs job in the end. and lets be honest , a line leading you to your goal is probobly the least innovative idea ever

if this gets too big, it will end up ruining videogames.
i absolutley wont be buying this as a stand against it. they can charge for things that arnt part of the game like themes ect but HOW DARE THEY charge you extra for more gameplay of a short game 2 months after release. and how dare they make out as if they are 'treating' us in their press release. what a piss take. and how dare they hype the big announcement over the last 2 weeks. they might as well have announced the following press release......

"big announcement from lionhead. this is what gamers and fable fans have been waiting a long time for. its time to get your wallets and cards out again!! hurray!!. 2 months after microsofts redicualasly short and under delivering game FABLE 2 which sold 1.5 million copies in the first 2 weeks comes the allegardly brand new quests which should have been included in the game you just spent 40£ on.and all for the incredible rip off price of 800 ms points!! what a TREAT! because here at microsoft we like to treat our customers who are tired with sending there consoles off to be fixed every few weeks with things like HORSE ARMOUR and super fucking duper darth vader soul caliber character copy and pasted directly from the ps3 version, and all for fantastically extausionate high, high prices!!! jump in bitches!!!!!! "

I'm not too excited about how developers keep releasing unfinished games. You have to wonder how the industry's going to look 5-10 years down the line.

And it has nothing to do with adding content that had to be cut due to deadlines. If that was the case the game could release on schedule and this content would be added later for free. This is just dirty, dirty business.

if this was released maybe 3-4 months from now i could maybe understand the price. but 2 months after the games launch suggests it was simply not put in the final game to squeeze some more money out of us. at least if it was released later you could kid yourself into believing they actually put some time and effort into making the DLC, as it is it feels like a scam. considering how dissapointing and short the game was, and the limited edition buyers not getting half of their limited edition content...you'd expect this to either be incredibly cheap or free.

Looks pretty good but to be released when little time has passed since the games launch, and at 800mp... well they can fuck right off!
Pretty damn obvious this was held back for DLC and to charge 800mp is an absolute joke.
Think I'll be waiting for a price drop before I contemplate touching this...

I still can't believe people are calling this game "short". Both my play through's lasted well over 30 hours. If you rushed through in under 8, then you missed the whole point of the game.

Seems like this was probably content that was originally planned, but not finished. You guys also realise that 90% of the time this is what PC expansions are as well, right? If it's new content that these guys have have put more time into developing, then they certainly deserve the money for it.

If you thought the game was disappointing, then why would you want to play more of it anyway? I'm certainly looking forward to this. Stop being so cynical.